Galway

Galway is a city, a county, and an experience to be savoured and remembered. The historic city of the tribes dances to a beat uniquely it’s own.

There is certain chemistry and vibrancy to this friendly University City, which many delight in, and few forget. Music, festivals, horse racing, pubs, restaurants, shops, theatres and most of all Galway people, combine to create this atmospheric medieval city. From this pulsating heart the rest of the county flows.

The city takes its name from the Gaillimh river (River Corrib) that formed the western boundary of the earliest settlement, which was called Dún Bhun na Gaillimhe, or the fort at the mouth of the Gaillimhe. The word Gaillimh means "stony" as in "stony river". (Alternative, more mythical, derivations are given in History of Galway). The city also bears the nickname The City of the Tribes, because fourteen1 "Tribes" (merchant families) led the city in its Hiberno-Norman period.